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New chapter! I'm tired, so I'll try and make the note quick today. Next chapter is halfway done, but I'm not sure when it'll be ready so you'll have to be patient with me. I envision Help Me... Please! will be updated before this one.

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These Inhibitors' Flaws (Reworked) – Chapter Twenty-Two

When Shadow was close enough, it became clear that Sonic had stopped. He could sense his energy somewhere nearby. So he dug his Emerald out of his quills. He stared into its faceted green depths, focusing on that unique energy Signature. It had a depth to it that Shadow had never thought about before. He'd always known this energy as Sonic but now he really let it flow over him, picked it apart. Knowing Sonic's insistence that he could use both positive and negative Chaos, Shadow could feel something that was assuredly different than every other Signature he'd felt. A swirl of something. It was hard to pin down, even as he was actively looking for it, but there was definitely something there.

No wonder he'd never noticed it before.

The Emerald's energy heightened the Signature, made it clearer. Or perhaps the mix really did just feel stronger somehow than it used to. But it was still a subtle blend. It was warming, like the sun. But, paradoxically, cool as ice where it slid against his own energy. And there was something else. Some prickle of something more. Something… almost acidic. That weird red energy.

Three sensations. Three energies somehow. Maybe even more... All wrapped up into one. They all melded together in such a way that it was so hard to feel the distinct parts. But with the Chaos Emerald, he could just about pick them out.

Sonic really was telling the truth, wasn't he?

Shadow felt awful about that tiny iota of doubt that had stalled him last night. The blue hedgehog had every right to be upset with him. He wanted to find Sonic now more than ever. To apologise. To tell him he was on his side, that he'd support him no matter what. To tell him he wanted to help in any way he could. Knuckles be damned, Sonic wouldn't be putting those inhibitors back on unless he somehow changed his mind. Shadow would not allow it to happen.

Focusing in on that Chaos Signature once more, Shadow pinpointed where it was at its strongest. Then he whispered the words that would take him there. In a flash of light, Shadow appeared in a section of forest almost identical to where he'd just been. It was so disorienting. But maybe the redwoods were a little thinner here. There was some sad looking foliage dotted around.

And through the branches of one patchy little bush, Shadow saw flashes of that vibrant blue fur. He'd tucked himself away… in a bush? A pretty crappy hiding place. He called the hedgehog's name and got no response. Sonic didn't even jump out to flee. So Shadow crouched down to push some of the scraggly twigs out of the way. The hero's eyes were closed, breathing slow and even. And that's when Shadow realised.

Lying in the dirt, beneath the bush, Sonic was sleeping.

He'd been running away not ten minutes earlier. Shadow had been tracking him. And now he was fast asleep. Was he really that exhausted? His health had clearly taken a dive recently and he hadn't been sleeping properly. But he had slept last night. For the first time since Shadow had brought him to Rouge's apartment, he'd gone to sleep and stayed that way. Had running really taken that much out of him? It was possible… but it still felt weird.

The other option was that Sonic had purposefully gone to sleep. Out here. And that felt even stranger.

Shadow reached his hand into the bush, feeling those deceptive little twigs scratch up his arm. Why had Sonic picked here? Chaos. He shook Sonic's shoulder. But the hedgehog was limp beneath his hand, deep in the grip of sleep.

"Sonic?"

He tried again, shaking a bit more vigorously. Still nothing. Now Shadow was getting worried. He couldn't have gone to sleep that long ago. And even if he was completely conked out, Shadow should have been able to wake him.

Unless he'd completely lost consciousness. If he'd passed out.

But how would that have happened? Why? It couldn't have come on suddenly, or Sonic wouldn't have had time to crawl under the bush.

Shadow shoved more of the branches out of the way and took a hold of Sonic's shoulders. He pulled him out from under the bush, turning him onto his back as he did. Slipping one of his gloves off momentarily, Shadow pressed two fingers against Sonic's neck. His pulse was steady, slightly too fast, but Shadow knew that was normal for the hyperactive hedgehog. His breathing was fine, so he didn't bother checking that. Every now and then his eyelids would flicker, the eyes underneath moving. REM. He was likely dreaming. But that meant he certainly wasn't in deep sleep. And that still didn't explain why Shadow couldn't wake him.

He had to call the others.

As he was scrolling through his contacts for Rouge's number, Sonic made a tiny sound of distress. A whispered whine. Shadow looked over the blue hedgehog. His brow was creased, muzzle wrinkled above his nose. The twitching of his eyes was a little faster than before. His ears flicking. It seemed like his dream was taking a turn. Shadow was on guard, ready for when he woke; Sonic would probably be screaming again.

Shadow kept an eye on Sonic as he dialled Rouge. It barely rang once before she picked up.

"Have you found him?" Rouge asked immediately.

If this were any other situation, he might have made some snarky comment about there being no greeting. Just like Rouge always did to him. But everyone was on edge and Shadow wasn't the jokey one. Sonic was.

"Yeah, I've got him."

"Why haven't you brought him back then?" Knuckles snapped.

Shadow narrowed his eyes at his communicator, as though Knuckles would be able to hear his glare. Shadow may not understand the choices Sonic made, but he'd come to his own conclusions about all this in the last ten minutes. He'd have Sonic's back on this. If the hedgehog wanted to be out here, in this forest, then by Chaos he'd stay out here. No matter how strange that was. It was his choice. He deserved that much.

"Maybe we should respect Sonic's wishes," Shadow responded coldly.

"His wishes?" Knuckles growled. "He'd not in the right frame of mind to make decisions right now, Shadow."

This might be crossing a line. But it had to be said.

"That's your problem, echidna; none of this would be happening if you'd let Sonic make his own decisions from the start."

There was a moment of silence. Shadow hoped the echidna was listening to him this time. Really listening. It was hard to tell. Even when his voice rang out from the communicator again, Shadow wasn't sure.

"Where are you?" Knuckles asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Shadow said. "I'll stay with him, just to make sure he's ok. But I think everyone else should keep away. That's why he left."

Silence again. Something tense and nerve-wracking. Shadow could hear his heart in his ears, a ringing sound almost. There was a lot of mumbling, muffled speaking that the communicator wasn't quite picking up. Arguing? Then, one quiet phrase leaked through right before the call hung up. It made Shadow's blood freeze.

"Tails, track Shadow's communicator."

The black-furred hedgehog frantically searched through his communicator's settings, trying to find a way to turn his location off. He mentally berated himself for not familiarising himself with all the functions of the communicator before. Typically, Shadow just used it to contact Rouge. Sometimes for the torch feature, but his night vision was usually good enough. And the camera, to collect evidence when on missions. They could do so many other things; Miles had loaded his devices with features. But Shadow barely used any of them. It was a pure convenience device for Shadow, so he didn't need to carry a phone. He'd honestly forgotten that they could be tracked.

The settings were extensive. Display, sound, brightness, font and text size, a whole section for camera settings, customisation, permissions, notifications. None of this was what he needed. Shadow growled. Where were the locations settings, damn it? Date and time, backups, battery, accessibility, wireless updates, an about section for the communicator's ID, user guide. And finally: location.

Once he'd tapped on the location section, he scanned the information on the page. Map settings and GPS. There: display location for all to see. Shadow flicked the tab off. He just hoped he was fast enough. And that the fox didn't have some master override.

He probably did.

Sonic turned back onto his side. The hedgehog was restless. Shadow placed a hand on Sonic's side, where blue fur met peach. Even as he did it, he wasn't sure why. He supposed he just wanted to try and ease the hedgehog. That crease had grown deeper in his brow. Sonic's breaths were coming out in agitated puffs. Another whine left him, muffled his time by his hand where it was curled over his nose. Must have been some nightmare. And nothing Shadow tried made a difference. Running a hand through his quills, patting the fur between his ears, flattening the fur along his side. He even tried waking him again. Nothing worked.

So Shadow just sat there, watching Sonic with a frown. Black ears picked up every panicked breath, every huff, every whine. His tossing and turning seemed to be growing in frequency. Shadow found it deeply upsetting. It hit him in his core, in that same way that first scream echoing through the apartment had. He wondered again what Sonic was seeing. But maybe he didn't want to know.

About twenty-five minutes passed before Shadow started to hear footsteps. Irritation flooded Shadow's veins. He stood from where he was sat beside Sonic, turning to meet the approaching mobians. Knuckles appeared first, Rouge at his side. Miles was lagging behind somewhat, looking miserable. Shadow met his blue eyes. His ears were low.

"Sorry, Shadow," the fox said quietly. "I didn't want to. Knuckles took my communicator."

True to his word, Shadow could see the little wrist device in the echidna's hand. Miles must have had an override if Knuckles had needed it. Which also meant that perhaps Shadow had been fast enough. Even if he'd only been bought that time by the two mobians fighting over Miles' communicator. The echidna tried to slip around him but Shadow stepped in his path with a growl. Knuckles returned it.

"Are you with Knuckles?" Shadow asked, still looking at Miles. "Or your brother?"

"Sonic," Miles whispered. "He wanted to be alone. You were right; we shouldn't be here."

"Then why are you?"

Miles flinched. He lowered his gaze. For a moment he just shifted in place, looking sideways at Knuckles. Poor fox looked guilty and tired. It made it hard to be mad at the fox.

"I was trying to stop Knuckles," Miles said.

Shadow turned his sights on Rouge. She was frowning, arms folded. He could see the nervous flutter in her wings. Shadow could tell she didn't want to be here. But the point still stood that she was. If Rouge had been trying to stop Knuckles as well, they would have at least been able to stall him for a few moments, surely? So he already guessed her answer before she'd said it.

"And what about you?" he asked.

"We need to talk about this," Rouge said, concern evident in her voice. "We can help, if Sonic would just explain."

"He doesn't have to explain," Miles said with a sigh.

It sounded like he'd been trying to tell them that the entire way here. He sounded exasperated. Shadow was grateful to the fox for trying. But there wasn't much he could do against Knuckles. But of all the mobians Shadow knew, Miles would be the one to be on his brother's side. It was interesting, however, that the fox didn't even want an explanation from the shifty hedgehog. Was he not at all interested in what was happening?

Or did he simply respect his brother's privacy? Shadow was leaning more towards the latter. And that's what bothered Shadow the most about the other two ignoring the fox. Miles had known Sonic the longest, knew him the best. If he was telling them to leave Sonic alone, why wouldn't they? By now, the fox had clearly marked down Sonic's mannerisms. He knew not to push the hedgehog.

No one was heeding the fox.

"Why's Sonic on the ground?" Knuckles asked, a suspicious edge to the question.

Shadow felt his quills bristle at the insinuation that he'd done something. Sure, he hadn't always liked the hedgehog. But Shadow didn't think that was the case anymore... Even if he did still hate him, why would Shadow purposefully attack Sonic while he was vulnerable? Knuckles clearly had it out for him, for whatever reason. Shadow would never hurt Sonic while he was defenceless. He wasn't a monster, for Chaos sake.

"I didn't do anything," Shadow bit out. "He was asleep when I found him."

Miles approached hesitantly. He paused in front of Shadow, wide, innocent blue eyes staring up at him, so much like Maria's. And he stepped aside for the fox. Knuckles huffed but didn't make to move forwards again. Miles was worried about his brother; who was Shadow to stop him? He did watch the fox out the corner of his eye though. Miles ran through the same quick vital sign check that Shadow had. Then he took up his spot beside Sonic, curling his fingers around the hedgehog's hand.

"Why would he go to sleep right now?" Knuckles snapped back. "He was so set on trying to fix his vague problem."

"I don't know," Shadow said.

Miles shifted behind him. Shadow turned his attention back to the brothers. The fox had one hand over Sonic's palm, the other lightly stroked the back of his hand.

"How do you know he isn't?" Miles askes softly.

All of them had their attention on the fox now. He didn't say it like he knew anything in particular. But there was something trusting in the fox's voice. Miles believed the hedgehog was somehow doing exactly what he'd said he would. Shadow was inclined to believe that was the case if Miles did. But he still wasn't sure how.

"Tails…" Knuckles muttered.

"Sonic's not stupid," Miles suddenly snapped. "He might do things we don't understand, but he's not dumb. Yeah, he likes keeping to himself. And that's fine; he shouldn't have to tell us everything. I trust that he's doing something."

"Tails, honey, he's unconscious," Rouge said carefully. "No one's saying he's stupid. But I don't see how he'd be able to fix anything while asleep."

Miles was quiet for a moment. A contemplative look crossed his face. He stared at his brother, as though he was trying to figure out a complex problem that had stumped him for years. Maybe Sonic really was a complex problem. One that possibly had no answer, no solution. Just something to puzzle over foolishly until your drove yourself mad. A trick question, almost.

He certainly was starting to feel like one.

"He used to do this a lot," the fox whispered.

"Tails?"

"Sometimes, if something was bothering him when we were younger, he'd just… go to sleep," Miles said. "I couldn't always figure out what had upset him. We'd be out there, looking for Eggman, just the two of us. And his mood would just take a nosedive. Sometimes he'd talk to himself. He thought I didn't notice. I could never make out anything that made sense. But his fix always seemed to be going to sleep. He wouldn't always wake up completely fine but he'd… be better somehow."

All three of them listened respectively to the fox as he spoke. He was quiet, morose. Sharing something he'd kept with him for so long. Like it was some sacred secret that should never have been said out loud. It didn't sound immediately significant, but Shadow filed it away to think on later. It must have meant something.

In any case, it was an insight into Sonic's mind. A minor one, but one nonetheless. It was an interesting quirk for sure. Shadow wondered where he'd picked it up from.

"If Sonic thinks he can fix something like this, I'll trust him," the fox whispered.

"Tails," Knuckles groaned. "Whatever coping mechanism Sonic had as a kid doesn't mean anything. He made his situation sound time-sensitive. You don't just fix a problem by going to sleep."

"But Sonic did," the fox insisted. "You weren't there. He doesn't do it so much anymore, but he really would feel better."

"Tails."

Sonic chose that moment to let out a particularly sorrowful whimper. He'd been sort of quiet for a few minutes. But this sound was much louder than the rest. They all jumped. Sonic's breathing had picked up. Incomprehensible muttering filled the air. He curled in on himself, trembling.

"Certainly sounds like he'll be better," Knuckles huffed.

Then suddenly, Sonic fell still. Alarmingly still. He unfurled, sitting up with his head lowered. Miles called his name but for a full five seconds the hedgehog didn't even stir. Eventually though, his head rose, eyes snapping open. Miles leaned away from him. Shadow had seen what he had. Sonic's eyes were pinpricks. The green of his iris was swallowed up by a violent red, the colour bleeding out, like blood vessels breaking along the whites of his eyes in a spiral pattern.

Before Miles could get any further away from him, his hand shot out, curling around the fox's throat. Shadow tensed, Rouge crying out in alarm behind him. Knuckles started forward but Shadow held him back with an arm. The echidna was saying something angrily, but Shadow didn't want anyone else near the hedgehog. Something was seriously wrong here. Sonic would never hurt Miles.

Sonic's quills swept up, a dirty gold consuming his fur until not a single blue hair was left. He stood, dragging Miles along with him. A grin split open his muzzle. Something malicious. Impossibly, it was Sonic's Super form standing before them. But it wasn't. It was far more twisted than that. The gold of his fur didn't look quite right, his eyes were downright crazed. And that energy radiating off him… it felt like that red energy.

Sonic didn't look friendly anymore.

It wasn't the form Miles had described, with the black fur and white eyes. The one that had supposedly started this mess. This was something else; a warped version of his Super form. And Shadow couldn't figure out it was even possible.

That hastily scribbled out note returned to Shadow. That one name that had stumped him. The one that not even Miles could give him an answer for. It wasn't the designated name for that black-furred form Shadow had yet to see. No.

Could this be what Sonic was referring to in the note?

Could this be Fleetway?

Slowly, Sonic's head turned to stare at Miles. The fox was clawing at the hand around his neck, his eyes screwed shut. Sonic didn't even flinch, even as scratches started to appear on his forearm. He tilted his head to the side, almost curiously. Observing. Every movement was slow and stiff, almost robotic. That horrid smile was still there.

"It's been a while since I've had so many toys to play with."

But his voice was the worst part. It set Shadow on edge, made his teeth hurt. It was like a tickling down his spine. Sing-songy but distorted beyond belief. The pitch warbled and wavered, fluctuating all over the place, like he couldn't control it. The tone felt wrong, almost… childish. But it didn't sound anything like Sonic. He wasn't so easily shaken, but it triggered some sort of primal fear in Shadow.

"I'm so happy I get the chance to play with you first," Sonic purred at Miles.

And then the fox was sent straight into the side of a redwood. Miles yelped. Shadow heard the sickening snap of bone. He snarled, gathering energy in his hand to form a Chaos Spear and aiming it at the hedgehog.

Sonic had completely lost it.

"You bastard!" Shadow snapped.

But Sonic had closed the distance between them before he could fire off the spear. Seeing his eyes up close made Shadow feel sick. But the smile was definitely worse. A hand pressed against his chest, swirling eyes lighting up in delight a split second before Shadow found himself being forced backwards with an immensely powerful shove. He collided with someone else. Judging by the shriek, it was Rouge. Shadow tumbled over her, feeling warmth splash his quills.

He'd cut her. He'd cut Rouge. His quills had been stiffened and he'd cut her. All he could think was where? Where was she hurt? Was she ok? Did it feel worse than it was? Or had he caused much, much more damage?

Shadow tried to stop his momentum, to catch himself against the ground. He didn't manage to get much traction before he slammed into a tree, the air being forced from his body in a rush. Shadow coughed, already raising his head to check on Rouge. She was lying a little further away, blood smeared across her face and chest. Shadow felt cold. Rouge struggled to her knees, pressing a hand to her cheek.

"I-I-I'm fine!" she called. "Help Knuckles, I'll g-get Tails!"

Rouge stretched out her wings, taking to the air. Shadow had to put her out of his mind for now. She was right, he had to help the echidna. Shadow swung his head around, trying to locate Sonic and Knuckles. He couldn't find them anywhere. They'd both just vanished.

Then something red fell from above, knocking Rouge out of the sky along with it. Both Rouge and Knuckles crashed to the ground in a heap. Shadow saw blood spray the ground beneath them, btu he couldn't be sure whose it was.

"No!" he yelled, scrambling to his feet.

A hand closed around his top quills, keeping him in place. Shadow couldn't turn his head. He reached back blindly, attempting to pry the fingers away from his scalp. He had to make sure the others were ok. He had to stop Sonic. But those fingers didn't budge. The grip was so strong; Shadow could feel pressure building along the base of his quills, like some might come loose any moment.

"Normal people break so easily," that awful voice sang in his ear.

The bastard sounded bored.

"But you won't, will you, Ultimate Lifeform?"